Good things are better than bad people.

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

Our recent discussions on "it's just stuff !" and trying to be an executor of an estate reminded me of a conversation I had with a now gone (alas) friend. He came from a fairly well-off but dysfunctional family, I came from a not well-off and dysfunctional one, we agreed that good things ARE better than bad people. Dick Clark once said "Outside of health and friendship there's a lot of happiness money can buy." He was absolutely right. I mentioned I still had some resentment towards my mother, I had to sell some guns and a Nikon camera because she wouldn't help me with my college and post college expenses, he mentioned resisting being packed off to boarding school or even private school. He thought his parents would be grateful for the tuition and other expenses they saved but he realized they wanted him out of the house. He attended a very good public school, met kids who were more normal-and nicer with nicer parents, got to meet girls. We discussed how guns-and bicycles-coin collections are remarkably undemanding, you can put them away, not look at them for years, they don't reproach you for ignoring them, don't criticize your tastes and spending habits, the company you keep, when you decide to part with them you know that someone else will ne happy to have them....

 

[Old18C]

As in most things, finding the balance is the hard part.